Dear Sir

This will be delivered to you by Capt. Geo. Ord who takes his passage with Monsr Cotiney de Prejent in the Ship Esperance for Guadaloupe he is a worthy, Active, Industrious, Honest Man in whom you may safely repose confidence at least such is the Character he has hitherto borne & such is my good oppinion of him —

Under this opinion, from Mr Prejents solicitation's, and from a desire to comply with your request as mentioned in your letter of the 1st October to me, I have procured a Commission for Captain Ord ro Command a Privateer and send him with it in order that you may purchase fit & Man a Suitable Vessell for this purpose under his Command, I propose that this Privateer shou'd be a stout, good, & fast sailing Vessell quite fit for the purpose a Ship, Brigt a Sloop or Schooner just as you can best suit yourself. I think she shoud have 12 to 16, six or four Pounders & 100 to 150 Men if to be got, and be well fitted & provided in every respect.² She may be bought, fitted & sent out on a Cruize with all possible expedition the sooner the better, and I leave the Choice of the Vessell & all other Circumstances to you, Mr Prejent & Capt Ord, as also the Cruizing Ground, altho I think good business may be done amongst the Outward bound West India Men by Cruizing to Windward of B[ar]B[aJdos where is also the track.for Guinea Men. I propose this Privateer to be, one third on your Acct one third on Acct of Mr Prejent & one third on my Account and If the Esperance arrives safe Mr Prejent & you will have sufficient Value to accomplish this business, if she does not arrive you will otherways receive sufficient remittances to pay for your & my part —

You must observe, I have not hitherto had any Concern in privateering & even at this day my Partner Mr [Thomas] Willing objects possitively to any Concern therefore this has no Connection with the business of my House but is totally distinct & on my Own Account, You will .charge me for my part the Cost of Outfit & Credit me for my third the N t pceeds of all Prizes &c You may use the Effects of W[illing,] M[orris] & Co to pay for my third; but I hope that Arnot will soon be reimbursed by some good Prizes, if not, I will repay them the Arnot here. I have not imparted my concern in this plan to any person and shall Copy this letter myself to prevent its being known, therefore I request you will never mention the least Tittle about the matter to any person nor in any letter but private ones to myself. You must know I had determined not to be Concerned in privateering but having had several Vessels taken from me & otherways lost a great deal of my property by this War, I conceive myself perfectly justifiable in the Eyes of God or Man to seek what I have lost, from those that have plundered me.

I recommend a Stout Privateer because I immagine the British Ships will now come out very generally Armed and little will be done by small ones. I have delivered Capt Ord the Rules & Instructions of Congress and request that both he & you will closely abide by them, indeed I have given Bond that you shou'd do so. I think however that you may sell Negroes, perishable Commodities & other Articles suitable for the Islands, in Martini.co if the General will give You leave without waiting a formal Condemnation in any of these States, but I think you had best send the Vessells & such parts of their Cargoes as are suited to the Continent to some part of it for Camdemnation & Sale, & when You take out a Cargo or any part of it from a Prize You might ship Salt or Mollasses, Rum &c in lieu thereof. You'l Consign to Mr John Dorsius in Charles Town to Messrs Hewes & Smith at Occracock North Carolina, to Benjn Harrison junr Esqr in Virginia, to Mr David Stewart at Baltimore, to us on this Coast, to Mr Nathl Shaw junr at New London, Mr Danl Tillinghast at Rhode Island, John Bradford Esqr Continental Agent at Boston or any port in Massachusets or to John Langdon C Agent in New Hampshire — I forgot to Mention Benjn Wereat Esqr in Georgia, however I wou'd always have you prefer sending to Charles Town & this place whilst they remain ours, indeed if you hear this place falls into the hands of the Enemy it may probably be best to keep the whole of the Prizes in your own hands

We have been much alarmed for some days past for the safety of this City & are not yet entirely relieved of our apprehensions on Acct of the unfortunate changes in our affairs since the reduction of Fort Washington The Enemy landed a Body of 8 to 10,000 Men in the Jerseys with a large Train of Artillery, and after forcing Genl Washington with between 4 & 5000 Men to evacuate Fort Lee, they have Continued their March as far as N Brunswick in the Jerseys where they now are & obliged Genl Washington to retreat before them to Prince Town & Trentown, he is at the latter place with about 3000 Men Ld Stirling at the other with 1000 to 1500 Men, but if the Enemy come on they will be obliged to Cross Delaware for Safety as they are not a Force to make a stand before the Enemy, in this retreat we have lost many usefull Stores, Provisions & I fear Artillery, and You may suppose the alarm & confusion here as it was generally believed they intended for this City, thus you have one side of the Picture, I hope the other may be better. Our Associators had been much disgusted with their Service in the Flying Camp & their Spirit had gone to sleep, they were called upon but did not rouse, untill within this two days when they began to Conceive their danger was real & they are now turning out with a Spirit becoming Free Men this day & tomorrow the whole Militia of this City & Suburbs March to join Genl Washington the Country will follow the example of the City the Jerseys are in Motion and Genl Lee has Crossed the North River with Considerable Force & is on the March towards the Enemy, so that I expect they will now be driven into Winter quarters more I do not promise myself at this time as their Artillery is extreamly formidable & we have but little to oppose it. Our affairs are amazingly altered for the worse within a few Weeks however I hope the exertions of Congress this Winter will but [sic put] them in a respectable posture before the Spring.

I am in daily hopes of hearing from you by Capt [John] Young,³ the Committee will not have time to write by this Conveyance. I am Dr Sir with much regard [&c.]

P S I expect Mr Prejent will be very usefull in buying, fitting & manning the Privateer. You must however get as many Anglo American as possible for Officers & Men and be sure that no Prize is detained unless clearly British or British-West India property.

R M —